2 Samuel 10
Bob Utley · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Samuel 10
Utley on hired - Ammon tried to bolster their military with mercenaries (Josephus, Antiq. 7.1.1, says he sent one thousand talents). (1) Syrians from the city of Beth-rehob (2) Syrians from the city of Zobah, from both #1 and #2 about 20,000 foot soldiers (3) from Maacah (Syrian Kingdom south of Mt. Hermon, but in the trans-Jordan, east, 1,000 men. Remember, "thousand" has a wide semantic field. It can refer to a military unit. THOUSAND (eleph) We get additional details in 1 Chronicles 19:6-7 - "When the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Aram-maacah and from Zobah. 7 So they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots (rekeb), and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and camped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered together from their cities and came to battle." Comment - 32,000 soldiers, exclusive of the thousand send by the Maachah, are mentioned in the parallel passage (1Ch 19:7) but of chariots or cavalry there is no mention; and the number of chariots stated here is prodigious, and beyond all credibility. But as the word {raichev} denotes not only a chariot, but a rider, (see Isa 21:7,) it ought most probably to be rendered here, in a collective sense, cavalry; and then the number of troops will exactly agree with the passage in Samuel. It is probable that they were a kind of auxiliary troops who were usually mounted on horses, or in chariots, but who occasionally served as foot-soldiers TECHNICAL NOTE ON TOB - Or perhaps “the men of Tob.” The ancient versions (the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate) understand the name to be “Ish-tob.” It is possible that “Ish” is dittographic and that we should read simply “Tob,” a reading adopted by a number of recent English versions. Odious (grow foul, stink)(0887) baash means to have a bad smell or to stink. To be repulsive. It denotes a bad physical smell (blood in the Nile - Ex 7:21) or odor of spoiled manna (Ex 16:20). In a figurative sense, it speaks of a person who becomes strongly revolting to another, a metaphorical "stench in the nostrils." Louis Goldberg - When Moses struck the water of the Nile, the fish died and the river became foul (Ex 7:18, 21). After the plague of the frogs, the land was foul (stank). When some tried to save their allotted share of manna, it bred worms and emitted a stink (Ex 16:20). But the double portion gathered on the sixth day did not become foul (Exodus 16:24). This term, stink, is also used by the Hebrew foremen of the Israelite slave force who complained to Moses and Aaron that they had made Israel's savour odious in Pharoah's presence (Ex 5:21). Other usages for stink or foul: David cried out because his wounds were foul and festering on account of his folly (Ps 38:5). Jacob exclaimed to Levi and Simeon that their actions caused him to be odious to the people of Canaan with drastic consequences (Ge 34:30). Qohelet says that dead flies ferment and make perfumed oil stink (Eccl 10:1). The idea of abhorrence is seen in David's decision to fight for the Philistines. They thought that David had made himself odious to the Israelites (1 Sa 27:12). The affair of Absalom and his father's concubines was calculated to make Absalom abhorrent to David and to bring about misunderstanding between father and son (2 Sa 16:21). Other shades of meaning are seen in the actions of wicked men who are loathsome (or act disgustingly, Pr 13:5). Thus this word either describes objects that have a foul odor, bad relationships between people creating abhorrence, and the general principle that evil deeds are so rotten that they have a bad smell in God's nostrils. (See Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) Baash - acts disgustingly(1), became foul(3), become foul(2), become odious(2), grow foul(1), made(1), made themselves odious(1), made yourself odious(1), making me odious(1), odious*(1), stink(2), surely made(1), surely made himself odious(1). Ge 34:30; Ex 5:21; Ex 7:18; Ex 7:21; Ex 8:14; Ex 16:20; Ex 16:24; 1 Sa 13:4; 1 Sa 27:12; 2 Sa 10:6; 2 Sa 16:21; 1 Chr. 19:6; Ps 38:5; Pr 13:5; Eccl 10:1; Isa 50:2 ISBE - Maacah - ma'-a-ka (ma`akhah; Septuagint: Codex Vaticanus Mocha; Codex Alexandrinus Maacha): A small Syrian kingdom adjoining that of Geshur on the western border of Bashan, the inhabitants of which are called Maachathites (the Revised Version (British and American) "Maacathites"), whose territory was taken by Jair (Dt 3:14; Josh 12:5). The border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites and all Mt. Hermon were given to the half-tribe of Manasseh (Josh 13:11). The inhabitants of these kingdoms, however, were not driven out by Israel (Josh 13:13), and at a later day the children of Ammon hired mercenaries from Maacah for their encounter with David. The armies met near Medeba when the "Syrians" from Maacah found themselves opposed to Joab. That famous captain completely routed them (2 Sam 10:6 ff the Septuagint has "Amalek"). In 1 Ch 19:6 it is called Aram-maacah, Syria-maachah (the King James Version); and in 1 Ch 2:23 "Aram" appears instead of "Maacah." It evidently lay between Geshur on the South and Hermon on the North, being probably bounded by Jordan on the West, although no certain indication of boundaries is now possible. They would thus be hemmed in by Israel, which accounts for `Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel" (Josh 13:13).It is possible that Abel-beth-maacah may have been a colony founded by men from Maacah. 2 Samuel 10:7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. BGT 2 Samuel 10:7 καὶ ἤκουσεν Δαυιδ καὶ ἀπέστειλεν τὸν Ιωαβ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοὺς δυνατούς LXE 2 Samuel 10:7 And David heard, and sent Joab and all his host, even the mighty men. KJV 2 Samuel 10:7 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. NET 2 Samuel 10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. CSB 2 Samuel 10:7 David heard about it and sent Joab and all the fighting men. ESV 2 Samuel 10:7 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the host of the mighty men. NIV 2 Samuel 10:7 On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. NLT 2 Samuel 10:7 When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his warriors to fight them. NRS 2 Samuel 10:7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army with the warriors. NJB 2 Samuel 10:7 When David heard this, he sent Joab with the whole army, the champions. NAB 2 Samuel 10:7 On learning this, David sent out Joab with the entire levy of trained soldiers. all the army: 2Sa 23:8-39 1Ch 19:8-19 Related Passage: 1 Chronicles 19:8 When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. DAVID RETALIATES WITH FORCE When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men - NLT = "the entire Israelite army to fight them." NRSV ="the warriors"; TEV = "the whole army"; NJB = "the champions." REB = "all the fighting men." JPSOA = "[including] the professional fighters". This is the first time David’s mighty men were actually referred to as the army. Notice that David sent Joab his commander but did not go into the battle himself. Was this a pattern that would soon set him up for his greatest failure (2Sa 11:1)? Perhaps.
2 Samuel 10
Utley adds this note on the parallel passage ""1 Chr. 19:18-19 The Jewish Study Bible (p. 1750) makes the comment that the Chronicler expands the numbers in 2 Samuel 10 to glorify David's victory. The NASB Study Bible (p. 577) says it was a copyist's mistake in Samuel. This shows the two ways of viewing these number differences (i.e., literary or scribal error). See Hard Sayings in the Bible, which supports the numbers in Chronicles. The best book on the number differences involved in the OT historical books is Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings." Walter Kaiser on page 195 in Hard Sayings in the Bible - How Many Charioteers? The Chronicles account says that David killed seven thousand charioteers, but 2 Samuel 10:18 gives the number as seven hundred. Some claim that this illustrates a tendency for the chronicler to somewhat magnify David’s stature and character. Is this an accurate assessment of the habits of the chronicler, or is there some adequate explanation for this discrepancy? 1 Chronicles 18:4–5 is the fullest and best statement of what took place at this encounter. If this is true, the Chronicles figure of seven thousand charioteers, or horsemen, is no doubt the correct figure and the one that lies behind the transcriptional error of seven hundred in 2 Samuel 10:18. Note that some Septuagintal texts of 2 Samuel 10:18 agree with Chronicles. Furthermore, the forty thousand “foot soldiers” of Chronicles is the correct reading, not “horsemen” as in Samuel, for the figure matches closely, as a rounded number, the twenty thousand plus twenty-two thousand foot soldiers given in 1 Chronicles 18:4–5. This seems to be the best solution to the problem. The present Hebrew manuscripts for the books of 1 and 2 Samuel have more transcriptional errors in them than any other book or combination of books in the Old Testament. From the preliminary checks seen in the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts of Samuel, the Greek translation of the Septuagint appears to reflect a much better Hebrew manuscript. (NOTE: Some preliminary but as yet unpublished reports from the Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran do indicate that at least some readings of the Dead Sea Scroll copies of Samuel are in agreement with readings previously found only in Chronicles. See Frank M. Cross Jr., The Ancient Library of Qumran, rev. ed. (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1961), pp. 188–91, and Ralph W. Klein, Textual Criticism of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), pp. 42–50.) Another attempt to resolve this problem suggests that when Samuel talked about the “[men of] chariots” or “[men of the] chariot divisions” (to which the seven hundred presumably belonged), he was speaking of a separate group of personnel from the (seven thousand) “charioteers,” but no evidence exists to support this distinction. The discrepancy is a problem of the correct text of Samuel and does not support the thesis that the chronicler had a tendency to magnify numbers in order to glorify David. 2 Samuel 10:19 When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore. servant: Ge 14:1-5 Jos 11:10 Jdg 1:7 1Ki 20:1 Da 2:37 feared: 2Sa 8:6 1Ch 19:19 Ps 18:37,38 48:4,5 Isa 26:11 Rev 18:10 Related Passage: 1 Chronicles 19:19 So when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and served him. Thus the Arameans were not willing to help the sons of Ammon anymore. ARAMEANS MAKE PEACE WITH DAVID When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore - Although there is a chapter break, clearly the Ammonites are not completely defeated, for 2 Samuel 11:1 says "Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem." 2 Samuel 12 tells us David and Israel finally defeated the Ammonites (after David confessed his sin which he had covered up almost 12 months!) Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and captured the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, I have even captured the city of waters. 28 “Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and camp against the city and capture it, or I will capture the city myself and it will be named after me.” 29 So David gathered all the people and went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it. (2 Samuel 12:26-29+) David